British business aviation industry calls for crackdown on illegal charter flights

posted on 18th September 2019 by William Hayes

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The British Business and General Aviation
Association (BBGA) has called for changes to the law to enable a stricter
enforcement of deterrents for illegal charter.

Speaking at the Air Charter Expo conference
at Biggin Hill Airport BBGA chair Aoife O’Sullivan complained that fines
currently being handed out are “pointless and they are not being enforced.”

“We need a change in the law,” said O’Sullivan.
“The [flight] cost-sharing concept is being openly flouted and we need a change
to the [UK] Air Navigation Order to put a stop to this.”

Panellists at the conference acknowledged
that abuses are increasing – partly facilitated by online charter platforms and
abuses of dry-lease arrangements – and that regulatory agencies generally have
inadequate resources to police illegal charter.

Dave Edwards, CEO of the Air Charter
Association, complained that there were only 14 successful illegal charter
prosecutions and fines between 2005 and 2016, amounting to total fines of just £14,950.

“That’s barely 10 weeks’ pay for a training
captain,” he said. “One person was prosecuted for seven offences over this
period, resulting in just £6,500 in fines. That’s clearly not a
deterrent.”

James Moreton from insurance broker Hayward
Aviation said that end users need to be more aware that illegal charters can
invalidate insurance coverage, adding that insurance companies could do more to
raise awareness about the resulting liability issues.

Ryan Waguespack, v-p of aircraft
management, charter services, and MROs at the U.S. National Air Transportation
Association, said that fines in the U.S. were higher for illegal charter
offences, citing one example of a pending $17 million penalty against an
operator in South Carolina.